Simon Abkarian
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- March 5, 1962 (age 64)
- Birthplace
- Gonesse, Val d'Oise, France
Biography
Simon Abkarian (born 5 March 1962) is a French-Armenian actor. Born in Gonesse, Val d'Oise, of Armenian descent, Abkarian spent his childhood in Lebanon. He moved to Los Angeles, where he joined an Armenian theater company managed by Gerald Papazian. He returned to France in 1985, settling in Paris. He took classes at the Acting International school, then he joined Ariane Mnouchkine's Théâtre du Soleil. Abkarian left the Théâtre du Soleil in 1993 and played in 2001 "Beast on the Moon" by Richard Kalinoski, directed by Irina Brook, a play about the life of a survivor of the Genocide of the Armenians, a role which won him critical acclaims and the Molière of the best comedian. His first roles in cinema were proposed by French filmaker Cédric Klapisch, who asked him to play in several of his movies, notably in "Chacun cherche son chat" ("When the Cat is Away" (1996) and in "Ni pour, ni contre (bien au contraire)" en 2003. He was featured in Sally Potter's Yes (2004), in which he played the lead role. Abkarian then played Mehdi Ben Barka in the thriller "J'ai vu tuer Ben Barka" by Serge Le Péron, about the kidnapping and the murder of the leader of the Moroccan opposition. He then played in "Prendre Femme" by Ronit Elkabetz which won him several interpretation prizes. Playing different roles and in different genres, he was featured in the adventure "Zaïna, cavalière de l'Atlas" by Bourlem Guerdjou, in the comedy "Le Démon de midi" by Marie-Pascale Osterriet. He has also appeared in Atom Egoyan's Ararat (2002), he was Albert in Almost Peaceful (2004) by French Director Michel Deville a film about Holocaust survivors, he was featured in "Your Dreams" (2005) by Denis Thybaud. He played the role of villain Alex Dimitrios in the James Bond film, Casino Royale. The character is a Government contractor and arms dealer working against Bond. He was featured as Sahak in the thriller "Les Mauvais Joueurs" ("The Gamblers") (2007) by Frédéric Balekdjian. He has also been the voice of Ebi in the French version of the animated feature "Persepolis". Abkarian played the role of the eminent Armenian poet Missak Manouchianin in "Army of Crime" (2010) by Robert Guédiguian, a French filmaker based in Marseilles, who is also of Armenian parentage. He has also played Dariush Bakhshi, the Iranian Special Consul, in the BBC drama Spooks MI-5. Abkarian is known for his intensity in acting and for his ecclectism in the roles he choses. Description above from the Wikipedia article Simon Abkarian, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia .
Known For
Photos
Filmography
God Will Know His Own
Movie
Malin Fors
TV · 1 ep
De Gaulle: Résistance
Movie · as Charles de Gaulle
De Gaulle: Liberté
Movie · as Charles de Gaulle
Pacer
Movie
Playground
Movie · as The Father
Vanished
TV · as Gaspard Drax · 4 eps
The 4th Wall
Movie · as Marwan
Chroniques D'un Indic
Movie · as Lakhdar
Mémoires de Palestine
Movie · as Narrator (voice)
Beau geste
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Overdose
Movie · as Daniel Prat
Restless
Movie · as Antoine Marelli
The Way to Happiness
Movie · as Saül Birnbaum
Cop Goes Missing
Movie · as Tristan
Electre des bas-fonds
Movie
Notre-Dame
TV · as Max · 6 eps
Permis de construire
Movie · as Müller
Off-Season
Movie · as Anthony
Black Notebooks
Movie
Les Damnés de la Commune
Movie · as Narrateur (voice)
Le dernier jour du jeûne
Movie
Wonderland
TV · as Tony · 6 eps
Rebels
Movie · as Simon Bénéké, Sandra's father
The Audition
Movie · as Philippe
Someone, Somewhere
Movie · as Mansour
The Swallows of Kabul
Movie · as Atiq (voice)
Ce soir-là et les jours d'après
Movie · as Karan
Bonsoir bonsoir!
TV · as Self · 1 ep
The Sonata
Movie · as Charles Vernais
Cyrano, My Love
Movie · as Ange Fleury
Overdrive
Movie · as Jacomo Morier
J'ai tué ma femme
Movie · as Le patron du café
Journey from Greece
Movie · as Kakourgos
Playground
TV · as The Father · 10 eps
Il était une fois... « Le procès de Viviane Amsalem »
Movie · as Self
Chouf
Movie · as Le libanais
Scribe
Movie · as Gerfaut
1915
Movie · as Simon
Don't Tell Me the Boy Was Mad
Movie · as Hovannès Alexandrian
Tehlirian on Trial: Armenia's Avenger
Movie · as Narrator
Malaterra
TV · as Thomas Rotman · 8 eps
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
Movie · as Elisha
The Cut
Movie · as Krikor
Colt 45
Movie · as Commander Luc Denard
Angélique
Movie · as L'avocat François Desgrez
The Marchers
Movie · as Le père de Farid
Zarafa
Movie · as Hassan (voice)
Qu'est-ce qu'on va faire de toi?
Movie · as Abraham Drucker
Zero Dark Thirty
Movie · as Detainee on Monitor
Kaboul Kitchen
TV · as Colonel Amanullah · 36 eps
Force
Movie · as Jimi Weiss
Les Amants naufragés
Movie · as Milo Garavan
Tony's Revenge
TV · as Tony Roucas · 8 eps
Turk's Head
Movie · as Le veuf
Comme une ombre
Movie · as Vincent
Army of Crime
Movie · as Missak Manouchian
Rage
Movie · as Merlin
Pigalle, la nuit
TV · as Nadir Zainoun · 8 eps
The Seven Days
Movie · as Eliyau
Secrets of State
Movie · as Al Barad
The Wedding Song
Movie · as Raoul
A World of Ours
Movie · as L'oncle de Noé (voice)
Minor Revelations
Movie
Le Menteur : La Pièce !
Movie · as Lelio
The ben barka affair
Movie · as le général Oufkir, ministre marocain de l'intérieur
Khamsa
Movie · as Khamsa's Father
A Day at the Museum
Movie · as Gilles Paulin
House of Saddam
TV · as Qais · 1 ep
Trivial
Movie · as Pierre
Persepolis
Movie · as Marjane's Father (voice)
New Délire
Movie · as Gunter (voice)
Rendition
Movie · as Said Abdel Aziz
The Snake
Movie · as Sam
Casino Royale
Movie · as Alex Dimitrios
Armenia
Movie · as Sarkis Arabian
Yes
Movie · as He
Les mauvais joueurs
Movie · as Sahak
The Demon Stirs
Movie · as Julien Cestac
Zaina: Rider of the Atlas
Movie · as Omar
I Saw Ben Barka Get Killed
Movie · as Mehdi Ben Barka
S.A.C. : Des hommes dans l'ombre
Movie · as Cesari
In Your Dreams
Movie · as Wilson
To Take A Wife
Movie · as Eliyahoo
Not For, or Against (Quite the Contrary)
Movie · as Freddy
The Legend of Princess Parva
Movie · as Swami (voice)
Almost Peaceful
Movie · as Albert
Ararat
Movie · as Arshile Gorky
Aram
Movie · as Aram
The Truth About Charlie
Movie · as Lieutenant Dessalines
Spooks
TV · as Dariush Bakhshi · 8 eps
Lila Lili
Movie · as Simon
The Silence of Rak
Movie · as Customer
J'irai au paradis car l'enfer est ici
Movie · as Simon
Tempest in a Teapot
Movie
When the Cat's Away
Movie · as Carlos
Ana El Awan
Movie
The Goldfish
Movie · as Customer
Quelqu'un
Movie · as Le client bavard
La nuit miraculeuse
Movie